Modern Family Review – 4.15 ‘Heart Broken’

Bixby is Back!
Juliana sits at a hotel bar, alone, nursing a martini. All of a sudden a talk, dark, stranger makes his way over to her. He’s got a nametag on his jacket that reads…Clive Bixby! Bixby is back and he’s here for Juliana, and he’s got all the right moves tonight. When they’re about to leave for their romantic evening, Juliana…er…Claire, passes out. At the hospital, we find out that Claire has a bit of a heart issue, which she inherited from Dede. Claire doesn’t want Phil to tell anyone and insists on keeping their romantic night going. Phil, unfortunately, cannot. Phil tells the kids, which infuriates Claire, as she continues to tell Phil that she is fine. Phil lets his wife know that even though she is the one always taking care of everyone, she can let them take care of her…for once.

Clive Bixby, you genius! I love Clive Bixby! The first time we met him back on the Valentine’s Day episode in the first season, I knew Ty Burrell was a complete genius. Tonight’s appearance by Clive, though not at good as the original, was still great. However, I was slightly mislead by the commercials as I thought we’d get a little more Clive, but I actually liked where the Dunphy storyline went. I am interested to see if Claire’s heart condition will continue through the rest of the season/series?

Cupid Blocked
It’s been 6 weeks since Joe was born and Gloria and Jay plan on having a romantic evening on Valentine’s day getting reacquainted with each other. But now that Claire can’t watch Joe and Lily because of her heart condition, Gloria and Jay have them, not to mention Manny. Every time they try to have a moment to themselves, they are interrupted; first by Manny, then Joe and Lily, then the baby-proofing guy. But none of that will stop Jay. During their first chance at alone time, Jay stops it because he is worried that a secret admirer is setting Manny up for humiliation. Gloria and Jay realize that they will always worry about their children and there’s nothing they can do about it. Gloria then sneaks out to check in on Manny, while Jay checks up on Claire.

Probably the weakest of the 3 stories, but still very good. Man, Gloria is really looking forward to getting with Jay, which seems unlike most pregnant women. Anyway, I really liked the desire the 2 of them had, trying to be with each other constantly, but always getting, as Jay told his son, blocked. It takes balls to tell your 2 month old that he’s a c*ck-block.

Sgt. Cam’s Lonely Hearts Club Party
Mitchell and Cam wake up on February 15th to find their cat has been dyed pink, they’ve stolen their neighbors Christmas decorations, and that they have a new roommate in Dylan. Cam puts all the blame for this on Mitchell, who had a few too many drinks the night before. Mitchell accepts this blame and realizes that he has to tell Dylan that he can’t stay. We soon find out that it was Cam who invited Dylan to live with them, and just as he’s about to ask Dylan to leave, Lily tells him to get out. Dylan accepts this and is gone.

I’m just gonna put this out there…Mitchell has every right to take those Christmas decorations! It’s the middle of February! If you’re Christmas decorations are still up, people have every right to steal them or do whatever they want. I liked this story. It’s about time that Cam had to take the blame for something, and Mitchell was actually fun. At least we think he was, we didn’t see it. He did dye a cat pink, so he probably did have a good time.

This Week’s Top QuotesPhil: I’m just saying, it’s a long wait after giving birth. 6 weeks! I couldn’t keep my hands off of this one for that long. I could only imagine what Jay is going through.

Phil: Dunphy men get nosebleeds. I told you this. It was in my vows.

Phil: Dr. Colon, this may have been my fault. I think I was being too sexy.

Phil: Everybody who I did not create, get out of my house right now!

Manny: Happy Valentine’s Day! It’s the one time of the year when the world tries to be as romantic as I am all the time. Good luck world.

Lily: Are you kissing?Jay: That’s a bit of a mood killer.Lily: My daddies kiss a lot.Jay: And…flat line.

Cam: Oh, and Mitchell, please try to have fun tonight.Mitchell: I always have fun.Cam: No, I know you’re great at stay at home fun, and sit on the couch fun, but this is party fun.

Mitchell: Come on. Like you’ve never had a few cocktails and dyed a cat pink with cherry kool-aid.

Cam:(referring to Lily) She is blunt, but effective. Maybe we should have her talk to the gardener?Don’t see your favorite quote from last night? Add it in the comments section!

Character of the Week…is my hero, Phil Dunphy/Clive Bixby! Every word that came out of his mouth tonight was genius. Plus, his sentimental moment with Claire at the end was very touching.

The 411: I thought this was one of the more creative episodes that Modern Family has done. I liked how the broke it into 3 separate story lines, and more then that, I liked that each story was a different day. It was however, one of the few episodes where the entire family doesn't have any interaction with each other, but that's ok. I do think that without this interaction though, the story lines weren't as strong as they could have been. I enjoyed the sentimental moments that Claire and Phil had, as well as the moment that Jay had on the phone with Claire. If I had one complaint, not enough Bixby; hopefully we get a little more of him before May.